Welfare-to-work program gets more generous

Supporters say legislation will address 'benefit cliff'

Participants in Vermont's Reach Up welfare-to-work program will be seeing longer-lasting child care subsidies and an increase in the amount of income the program will disregard when calculating benefits.

That's the result of legislation passed in the closing hours of the just-completed legislative session in Montpelier.

Supporters say the legislation will help address a so-called "benefit cliff," in which people sometimes go to work and find they're earning less in a low-wage job than they were getting in state benefits.

Former Reach Up participant Heather Newcomb says she got a raise worth about $40 per month and lost $100 in state benefits. She says she's hopeful the legislation will address that kind of situation.